Comparative Effects of Crop Residue and Nutrient Combination on Soil Total Nitrogen Dynamics at Different Stages of Crop Growth under Maize-Wheat Cropping System

A 2-year field experiment was conducted over 4 growing seasons from 2016 to 2018 in farm area of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, during Kharif and Rabi season to assess the effects of crop residue incorporation on soil total nitrogen dynamics at different stages of crop growth under maize-wheat cropping system. There were 5 treatments each replicated four times. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design. The result showed that application of N, P and K either alone or in combination with crop residue recorded significantly higher total N content over nutrient omission plots and total N was increased progressively with NPK + crop residue treatment over residue removal. The incorporation of crop residues significantly increased soil total N content with advancement of crop upto V10 stage which varied from 0.066 - 0.098 per cent while the lowest total N was reported at after harvest varied from 0.034-0.050 per cent in maize crop. The lowest soil total nitrogen content was recorded in N omitted plot viz., 0.025 and 0.024 per cent with and without residue, respectively in wheat crop. Total N content of the soil at lower depth decreased with the depth (15-30 cm) varied from (0.022 - 0.090 per cent) and (0.015 - 0.071 per cent) with and without incorporation of wheat straw, respectively in maize crop.